Justine Avery

I eagerly snatched up the opportunity (excuse?) to interview my husband about his view of and feelings toward my writing career. Don't we all wonder what those close to us really think about our uncanny attraction to language, our mysterious-seeming mood swings stemming from that writing we go off to do all alone, how we eye everything as if it's a potential story or character or bit of dialogue, or what they think it means to "be a writer?" Counting on brutal honesty and hoping for extra encouragement and insight from the perspective of a fellow creative working in a different medium, I proceeded to prod my film director and voracious reader husband, Devon Avery, for what it's really like to be in a relationship with a writer—witnessing the ups and downs of a writing career firsthand—for any advice he has to share for the creative process and its challenges, and his view of the role we writers serve for all of humanity. (As his wife, I get to ask heavily loaded questions!) When we first met, I was a "writer" who didn't write. I said I was a writer—I'd had a few stories and articles published in the past—but…